The Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and Nigerian Maritime Adminstration and safety Agency (NIMASA) have underscored the importance of intelligence sharing in combating the menace of worsening insecurity in Nigeria.
This was the trust of one-day capacity building workshop organised by the two agencies for security agencies in Ekiti .
The programme which was designed to appraise the challenges in the state with a view to proffering solutions to them.The workshop was attended by regular and paramilitary security agencies.
In his opening remarks, the Chairman, SEMA ,retired Capt. Sunday Adebomi,
stressed the need for collaboration among security operatives in the state.
The security advocated the inclusion of all security agencies in the state in the State Security Council.
He urged the three tiers of government to ensure that modern technologies was provided to enable them to confront the issue of insecurity.
He also urged stakeholders in security sector to be proactive in gathering security information toward tackling the menace of insecurity.
The SEMA boss also urged them to synergise with local communities for enhanced intelligence sharing and proactive policing.
He urged the security agencies to see security as a communal corporate responsibility.
According to him ,tackling insecurity requires information gathering, advising security personnel to intensify efforts at ensuring that the issue of insecurity was tackled headlong.
In his speech ,the NIMASSA DG ,Dr Bashir Jamoh, the Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Adminstration and safety Agency (NIMASA), represented by Mr Felix Owoh, the Deputy Director, Special Duties, called for community policing, saying there is need for all security agencies to work together.
Jamoh called for the deployment of more surveillance teams for effective patrol of the 16 local government areas and to all the flash points in the state.
He suggested the deployment of immigration personnel to all the entries and exit points in the state to check the influx of illegal immigrants.
Also speaking the Commissioner of Police in Ekiti, Mr Moronkeji Adesina, delivered a paper on: “Challenges of Internal Security in Ekiti State: The Way Out”.
Adesina, represented by ACP Sheu Alao, identified inadequate manpower and equipment and deplorable condition of roads as some of the factors that contributed to insecurity in the state.
The police chief recommended the recruitment of more manpower, including local vigilante groups and other security personnel to bridge the gap between the security agencies and the communities in the state.
“There should be regular training and re-training of security personnel,” Adesina said.
Commenting, the General Manager of SEMA, Mr Jide Borode, said the agency has been proactive in responding to people who were affected by disasters.
Borode said that communique drafted from the workshop would be forwarded to appropriate quarters to address insecurity in the state.
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